Hardwar, June 15
Blowing hot and cold amid reports of differences among Hindu saints and RSS pressure to tone down, the VHP today said it would “forgive” BJP President L.K. Advani if the religious leaders desired even as it extended support to Gandhinagar voters seeking his resignation from Lok Sabha.
“The scope for ‘kshyama’ (pardon) is always there. He (Advani) will have to consider the influence of saints and talk to them,” VHP Senior Vice-President Acharya Giriraj Kishore told reporters here, a day after the outfit’s Central Advisory Board adopted a resloution asking the BJP chief to take ‘sanyas’ from politics.
He was responding to a question on the BJP’s outright rejection of the VHP resolution.
With Acharya Avichal Das of Gujarat and Mahant Keshav Das of Digamvar Akhara openly declaring that they were willing to forgive Advani if he worked for the cause of Hindu interest, Kishore conceded that VHP’s viewpoint was different from that of religious leaders.
However, when asked if the VHP too would forgive Advani if the saints did so, Kishore said “the saints do not work under (VHP general secretary) Praveen Togadia ...VHP works as per the guidance of the religious leaders.”
The apparent dilution came even as Avichal Das confirmed that Advani, in a conversation with Swami Vishvesh Tirtha of Pejawar Math, had refused to apologise for his controversial remarks on Babri demolition, Pakistan founder Mohd Ali Jinnah and Akhand Bharat.
“I have already said what I wanted to say. I have nothing more to say,” Das quoted Advani as telling Pejawar Swami yesterday.
The toning down of VHP’s aggressive stand also came amid reports that RSS was upset with it.
Sangh sources said RSS wanted the “chapter to be treated as closed” after the statement passed at the BJP Parliamentary Board meeting and its acceptance by Advani, who subsequently withdrew his resignation.
However, Acharya Avichal Das said Hindu religious leaders would support the “voters of Gandhinagar” in their demand for Advani’s resignation from the Lok Sabha seat as he had “insulted” the people of Gujarat by describing the violence in the state as a blot and not raising the Godhra train tragedy during his visit to Pakistan.
Contrary to the VHP’s repeated threats to float a Hindu political front, Das said the religious leaders had no plans for launching a political party and favoured the BJP taking a pro-Hindutva line in the coming days.
Giriraj Kishore announced that the VHP managing committee would meet on June 28 and 29 in Amritsar to give shape to the decision of the Marg Darshak Mandal.
Returning to its pet agenda after the attack on BJP President L.K. Advani, the VHP today expressed serious concern over the “unbridled” growth in Muslim population and exhorted Hindus to increase their numbers to “counter” it.
— PTI, UNI
